Technical and Economic Viability Assessment of PV Power Plants for Rural Electrification in the Gambia

Low rural electrification rate is a major problem, and continue posing huge challenges especially in remote areas. It was found that Farafenni town is present in a region with the high solar radiation values (4.5–7 kWh/m2/day) in all year round, making it a suitable town for PV power plant investments. 1 MW PV power plant was studied to evaluate the feasibility between crystalline Si (c-Si) and thin film (CdTe) modules by varying the feed in tariffs (FIT). The present FIT of 0.24 US$/kWh showed that CdTe modules present not only higher NPV (2,053,869 US$), IRR (7%), BCR (1.60), but also shorter PBP (9.48 years) values than those values of the c-Si modules with NPV (1,189,576 US$), IRR (4%), BCR (1.30) and longer PBP (11.68 years). Based on technical and economic assessments of the c-Si and CdTe PV power plants, the CdTe PV power plant presented the reasonable technology for rural electrification in The Gambia.